1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus capable of displaying an image recorded on an image recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
It has heretofore been proposed to provide an image display apparatus arranged to write a negative image or a positive image recorded on a photographic film or the like to a spatial light modulator (hereinafter referred to as SLM) and read the recorded negative or positive image from the spatial light modulator so that a user can view the recorded negative or positive image. For example, there is an apparatus which is arranged to write a negative image to an SLM by the projection of writing light from an image recorded on a negative film, thereby allowing a user to view the written image as a positive image.
In such an apparatus, if an image recorded on a negative film or the like is to be written to the SLM, it is desirable to adjust the density of writing light in conformity with the range of reproduction of the tone of an image to be read from the SLM. If an image is written to the SLM so as not to conform with the range of reproduction of the tone of an image to be read from the SLM, the image will lose gradation in its bright or dark portion or the original color of the image will not be reproduced during reading, so that a user will be forced to view an image which is visually extremely impaired.
However, the density of an image to be written, which is recorded on a film, depends on the color or the brightness of a photographed subject, an error in the accuracy of exposure during photography or the conditions of illumination of the subject (for example, front light or back light), and even if writing of the image to the SLM is performed under fixed conditions, it is considerably difficult to conform the tone of the image written to the SLM with the range of reproduction of the tone of an image to be read from the SLM. In addition, individual SLMs exhibit different sensitivities even if the SLMs are of the same type, so that as long as the same image is written under the same conditions, a particular SLM may fail to correctly write the image which could be correctly written by another SLM. Furthermore, since the sensitivity of an SLM also tends to depend on environmental conditions such as temperature, it is difficult to write a correct image under any environmental condition by means of such SLM.